


Knight in Shining...Cotton?

by darlingdestiny



Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: AU, College!AU, Fluff, M/M, SO MUCH FLUFF, happiness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-15
Updated: 2017-03-15
Packaged: 2018-10-05 10:07:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,052
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10304315
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/darlingdestiny/pseuds/darlingdestiny
Summary: Prompt: You’re the only one who actually responded to the desperate message I sent to the whole class about needing the notes.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! I have not written fanfiction in soooo long, and this was just something to get me back into it. I was planning on making it really long, and pretty angsty, but I'm tired of angst, so I decided to forgo the sexuality crisis, the attempted date-rape (not committed by Derek or Spencer), etc, and just gave you so much fluff that my I don't know even know if it's well written. It's not my best piece of literature I've ever written, but it was fun. Please let me know what you think (like if I should burn it or frame it)!
> 
> I'm probably gonna write a second chapter full of fluffy smut, so stay tuned!

It is almost midnight and Derek is pacing back and forth in his dorm, freaking out about the midterm he has to take for his Intro to Psychology class. In a fit of desperation, he emailed the entire class, pleading for someone’s notes. Derek is not a good note taker, and his notes are not helping, and there are over three hundred pages in the textbook that the professor covered, and, for lack of better words, he flipping the fuck out. The midterm, of course, is 30 percent of his grade, and he is on the cusp of a B-, and he needs to keep his grades up to stay on the baseball team and, more importantly, keep his financial aid. Fuck knows that he would not be able to stay in school if he does not have his financial aid. He keeps refreshing his email, but nothing is happening. He flops down onto his bed and screams into his pillow; thankfully, his roommate is staying with his girlfriend tonight, otherwise he would have to freak out in silence, because his roommate goes to bed at a fairly normal time, because he’s _that_ type of student—you know, the one who does their work on time, and gets a good amount sleep.

Derek hears the ‘ping’ of a new email, and he almost falls of his bed trying to get to his laptop on his desk. He sighs in relief when he sees an email from the group message from _Spencer Reid_ , he doesn’t recognize the name. Which is odd, because he thought he knew everyone in the class. It only had about 20 students in the class. But that isn’t very important right now. He reads the message, and it says _Hey, I don’t have my notes on my computer, but if you want to meet somewhere, I can give you copies. –SR_ Derek could almost start crying in relief. He writes back, _Oh god, thank u so much man! You’re a literal lifesaver, man. I cannot thank you enough rn. Where are you? I’ll come to you, so you don’t have to do any more than you already are for me._ The response is almost immediate. _No problem! I’m in the library right now, actually. I work there, and my shift doesn’t end until 2 am. You can find me at the front desk. –SR_ Derek doesn’t bother responding, but rather he throws on his shoes, grabs his keys, and heads to the library.

Thankfully, it isn’t too far from his dorm—only a 5 minute walk, or so—and it isn’t that cold out. When going up the stairs, Derek takes two steps at a time, and when he gets to the top he takes a minute to compose himself so he doesn’t look like a complete nut when meeting this guy. He makes his way to the front desk, and he sees one lone guy sitting behind a computer. He is really thin, has short brown hair that looks like he’s been running his finger through it for the last few hours; from what Derek can see, he’s wearing a red sweater vest over a long sleeve. button up shirt. He doesn’t know why, but he doesn’t recognize Spencer at all, despite apparently sharing a class with him for the last three months. Derek hesitantly walked up to the person he presumes to be Spencer.

            “Um, Spencer?” Derek asks. The guy looks up from the computer and smiles broadly at him. Derek ignores the little twinge of _something_ in the base of his gut. He clears his throat.

            “You must be Derek!” Derek scratches the back of neck sheepishly.

            “Uh, yeah. I’m really sorry about this, but thank you so much for doing this.”

            “Don’t worry about it, Derek.” He says, reaching into his bag and pulling out the papers, and the handing them to Derek, who then sighs in relief.

            “You’re the best, man. I just—now, don’t take this the wrong way, but I don’t remember seeing you in class.” Spencer bites his bottom lip and smiles, and Derek forces himself to not stare as his tongue flickers out and runs along the seam of his lips.

            “I sit in the back, and I don’t really say a lot. I’m not really surprised that I’ve gone unnoticed,” Spencer chuckles dryly. Derek immediately feels like an ass for saying anything at all. He blames his lack of sleep for his lack of filter.

            “Well now I’ll never forget you. You’re my only hope for passing this exam.”

            “Really, don’t worry about it. Let me know if you need anything else!” Derek bites the inside of his cheek, carefully debating his next words. Before he can think too much about it, the words stumble out of his mouth.

            “Do you—I don’t know, like, want to study together? You know, if you’re not busy, and only for a little while. Until you shift is over, that is. Don’t feel obligated to say yes—you know, you’ve already done so much for me, and you know what? Never min—.”

“Derek,” Spencer says, blessedly cutting Derek’s ramble off. “Yes, I will study with you.” Spencer grins, and Derek ignores the second twinge of _something_ in the base of his gut.

“G-Great, that’s great. Wow, thanks, man.” Derek walks around to the behind the desk, and rolls the vacant chair over next to Spencer—careful not to put the chair _too_ close next to him.

Derek and Spencer spend the next two hours reviewing for their exam. Well, it was more along the lines of Derek asking countless questions with a very-enthusiastic Spencer answering all of them.

“Wow—how do you remember all of this?” Derek asks as he lets out a breathless chuckle. Spencer bites his lip and blushes as he looks down at his hands.

“Well—I just have a really good memory, I guess.” Spencer chuckles nervously. Derek eyes his suspiciously, but doesn’t push it any further.

“That you do, man. Thanks to you, I might actually pass the exam tomorrow. You’ve been a godsend, really.”

“Oh! It’s no problem at all, I’m always happy to help.” For the umpteenth time in the last time, Derek ignores the twinge he feels in the pit of his stomach when Spencer smiles at him like _that._

            “Still, you didn’t have to do this. I want to make it up to you. Really. Can I—I don’t know, buy you a cup of coffee or something? Tomorrow? After the exam, obviously. Or whenever. You know. Whatever. Just as a thank you, ‘s all.” Derek lets out a sigh as a way to stop his rambling. Spencer giggles—fucking giggles—and it makes Derek’s insides melt as just how endearing this boy is—Derek stops that train of thought it in tracks, and sets it on fire, because he does not feel that way—he does not feel any way when it comes to Spencer Reid. He just wants to thank him, and to do that; he will buy him a coffee—a strictly platonic, friendship-like coffee. In the daylight. In public. Platonic coffee, that’s all it is.

            “I—I don’t really drink coffee.”

            “Tea then.”

            “I—okay, yeah. That sounds great.” Spencer blushes, which does _not_ make Derek fill with pride knowing that he caused him to do so. Nope. Not in the slightest.

            “ _Great!_ ” Derek’s horrified at just how eager he sounds. He clears his throat, and scratches the back of his head nervously. “Great—yeah, okay. Then I’ll see you tomorrow then? Well, yeah, obviously. You’ll be taking the exam too. Okay, I’mma shut up before I say anything else that makes me sounds like a moron.” Spencer is grinning amusedly and it, somehow, makes sounding like a moron completely worth it to Derek. “Okay. Well, thank you again, Spencer. It was great to meet you, and, uh, I’ll see you tomorrow.” Derek says packing up his back.

            “You’re welcome, Derek. Good luck on the exam, you’re going to do fine. I promise.” Derek feels his face heat up, and prays that Spencer doesn’t notice. Derek quickly finished packing his bag and waves goodbye to Spencer.

* * *

 

            By the time the exam comes around, Derek actually feels prepared. With Spencer’s help and the extra bit of studying he got in right before the exam, Derek goes into his class room feeling weirdly calm. Usually when he is about to take an exam, his is sweating buckets and can barely see straight. His eyes automatically scan the room, and he finds Spencer, sitting in the back corner, his face buried in a book. Derek wants to wave to him, sit next to him, _something_ , but he doesn’t know if that’d be okay. It’s also really quiet in the room, because everyone is cramming one last time before the exam, and Derek doesn’t want to bring any unnecessary attention to him, or Spencer. So, Derek takes his usual seat and decides to cram one last time as well. The professor walks into the room, suit and all, and tells everyone to put their material away. Derek takes a deep breath and prepares himself. The professor hands out the exam and Derek begins.

            Two hours later, Derek is finally finished with the exam, with 45-minutes to spare. 50 minutes prior, he notices that Spencer finished and handed in his exam. Derek was astonished at how fast Spencer managed to finish the exam, but wasn’t really that shocked, to be honest. Derek hopes that he can find Spencer, so they can still get their coffee. He didn’t get Spencer’s number, and emailing him about a cup of coffee seemed pretty desperate. Derek leaves the room, debating whether he should check the library—he thoughts are halted completely as he finds Spencer sitting outside the classroom, reading a book. Spencer must sense his presence, because he looks up from his book. When he sees Derek, he grins widely and Derek’s insides completely melt and—okay, maybe he feels _something_ towards Spencer. Maybe. Maybe it’s been less than twenty-four hours, and he’s basically gone for the guy completely.

            “Hey! How did the exam go?” Spencer asks, putting his book into his bag. Derek _might_ forget how to speak for a second, but he quickly recovers. He clears his throat.

            “It went—good, it went really good. Thanks to you, that is.” Spencer giggles again, and Derek can officially conclude that he’s losing his mind, and is completely gone for someone he’s known for less than an entire day. Which is a completely normal-not-crazy thing.

            “I’m sure you would have done well without my help,” Spencer says and he and Derek start to walk down the halls.

            “You definitely overestimate my test taking ability.” Derek replies, gently bumping his shoulder against Spencer’s.

            “I think you underestimate your abilities.”

            “I guess we’ll see after the next exam.” Derek laughs.

            “There’s going to be a next time?” Spencer asks hesitantly. Derek looks at him, and Spencer is playing with his hands nervously.

            “Yeah,” Derek says softly, “I hope so.” Spencer blushes, and Derek’s insides melt.

            “Me, too.” Spencer says quietly. Derek bites the inside of his cheek. The last time he took a chance backfired, but this feels different—this feels right. So he decided to take the chance, because you only get one life, and you can’t let chances like this pass you by. He slowly—painstakingly so—reaches for Spencer’s hand and laces their fingers together. He doesn’t have the nerve to look at Spencer as he does so, but he hears Spencer gasp softly at the action. Then Spencer squeezes his hand in response. Derek grins so wide that his cheeks hurt. Yeah, he’s gone for Spencer. Completely and utterly gone for him; compare his smile to the stars, his eyes to the moon, and his voice becoming his favorite song-type of gone. The type of gone that people write about, but never _really_ experience. Maybe he only met him less than 24-hours ago. That doesn’t mean he can’t see himself spending the next 24 years of his life with the shy boy from his psychology class—the boy who saved his butt, and helped him when no one else would. His knight in shining…cotton?


End file.
